Sibling Rivalry
by ChutneyMarie
Summary: This is actually a crossover from several different Disney shows: Wizards, Good Luck Charlie, Jessie, Lab Rats, Suite Life, and Dog With a Blog. Three characters from each show are selected to compete on a game show called Sibling Rivalry. What will happen to them on Rivalry Island? There will be reunions, stowaways, and evil sorcerers. What adventures will these kids have here?
1. The Rivalry Begins

The Rivalry Begins

Teddy Duncan sat at the breakfast table feeding her baby brother while her parents argued again. It had been like this ever since her father had lost his exterminator business Bob's Bugs Be Gone. They were officially a one-income family, and that just wasn't enough to live on for all six people in the house.

She tried to help out with as many jobs as she could handle, but she was only seventeen and the positions she was qualified for just couldn't make enough to supplement her mother's nursing salary. She had always though her mother made good money until the whole family was relying on that one income.

"Gabe, you're gonna hafta take Toby," she told her younger brother as he walked into the kitchen. "I'm late for work."

He looked at her sleepily. "I thought you just got home from work."

"No my hours were changed," she lied. She'd just gotten home from her job at the mall where she sold clothes for minimum wage. Now she was off to work her shift waitressing. It was harder and dirtier work, but she often made more in tips alone.

She pushed through the swinging door that led to their livingroom. Her purse and jacket were still hung on the coat stand where she'd left them less than an hour before.

"I know you just came home from work," Gabe informed as he followed her to the front door. "I'm supposed to be the one breaking rules, lying, and sneaking out. If you tell me where you're going, I might consider not—"

Teddy walked past her brother and picked up the TV remote to put the volume up. "Sh, I wanna see who won Panamanian Idol. What? I saw one episode and I was hooked. It's more addictive than it sounds."

"Don't ignore me! I'm trying to blackmail you here!" Gabe grabbed for the remote but she pulled it out of the way.

"Be quiet!"

"Give me that!" Gabe grabbed it from her and pointed the remote at the television. She knocked it out of his hand, sending it flying over the couch and onto the floor.

They looked at each other in a moment of silent challenge. Suddenly they both found themselves wrestling their way over the back of the couch.

"For only 9.99—The leader of Davenport industries—But that's not fair! Michelle—Win up to 15 million dollars!—on the Tears of Tomorrow," the TV said as the remote continued to change hands.

"Wait, wait, go back," Teddy ordered.

Gabe went back a channel. "To sign up for Sibling Rivalry, just go to .com to be entered into the random drawing," the new game show host continued. "If you get selected, you will be flown to our private Caribbean island where you will undertake all kinds of obstacles. Do you have what it takes to win and go home millions of dollars richer?"

Teddy and Gabe exchanged a glance.

"What are you doing?" Oldest brother PJ asked as he came into the house and observed his brother and sister hanging upside down off of the couch.

Teddy scrambled to her feet. "We're going on a game show!"

"From the couch?"

Gabe rolled his eyes. "No, we're going to sign up for a show called Sibling Rivalry where we can become millionaires!"

"Sibling Rivalry," PJ repeated. "I think I've heard of that."

"We saw the commercial on TV," Teddy told him.

"I'm gonna be on TV," their mom celebrated as she flung the kitchen door open.

"No, mom, it's called Sibling Rivalry," Gabe explained.

"I can pass for Teddy's sister," she decided. "Younger, of course."

"What?" Teddy shook her head as she gave an exaggerated shrug.

"Let's just fill out the application at PJ's," Gabe whispered.

"I have to go to work," Teddy announced, heading out the front door.

Her brothers made their own excuses and followed her.

Leo opened the door to the secret lab in his basement. His three bionic, genetically engineered siblings were running around busily. "Come with me if you want to live," he quoted with the worst Austrian accent ever.

"Sorry, Leo," Bree told him. "We can't play right now. We have to get ready for our mission."

"Oo, we're going on a mission," he bounced up in excitement. "I'll be back," he told them in the same accent as he headed for the door.

"No, Leo, it's our mission," Chase motioned to himself, Bree, and Adam. "It's really intense and dangerous. Davenport doesn't think you're ready for it yet."

"Not ready?" Leo shouted. "I was born ready!"

"You were born ready to be on a game show?" Adam asked.

"Game show?"

"Uh, what Adam means," Bree tried to explain, "is…" she looked at Chase for help.

He sighed. "The truth is, we're going to be competing on a game show. But the part was only for three siblings. Sorry, Leo, it's just that, well, you are the least qualified to compete."

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "I have laser vision and superstrength, Bree can superspeed, and Chase is super nerdy."

"Anyway," Chase continued, letting the insult slide, "we just don't need an extra person. Sorry."

"No problem, none at all," he assured as the three super siblings left the lab. He looked around quickly to make sure that he was alone before slipping himself into Adam's duffle bag.

"All right," Avery announced to Tyler as she came down the stairs, "I've made an organized chart of the daily obstacle courses and work outs we'll be doing in order to condition ourselves to anything that can possibly happen on Rivalry Island."

"Chill out, I've got it under control," he answered, reaching for another potato chip.

She marched over and swiped the bag away. "Potato chips? No! No junk food from now on. We need to stick to strict diets that properly balance proteins, carbs, and essential vitamins." She handed him a sheet of paper from her clipboard.

"I'm not sticking to this. Trust me, I'll do just fine."

"We're not gonna do 'just fine'. If you're gonna be on my team, you're gonna win!"

He looked up in shock. "I didn't know that you were so competitive."

"Neither did I," she admitted. She couldn't remember being in a good contest since she lived back in Denver.

"Wait," Tyler scrolled on his phone. "It says here that we need three siblings. Where are we going to get another teammate?"

Avery sat down with her hand on her chin.

"I'll do it!" their little sister announced, jumping up from behind the couch.

"Well I know this girl—"

"Nope," Avery immediately answered. "None of the girls you know are good enough for this. We could ask Tim from my science class."

"I'll do it!" Chloe repeated just as cheerfully.

"I'm not going to be on a team with him. He's a creepy little kid."

"I'll do it." Chloe repeated.

Avery and Tyler sighed. Chloe stepped right in front of them. "I. Will. Do. It."

They looked at each other. They didn't really have anyone else, did they?

Avery shrugged. "Welcome to the team," Tyler congratulated.

Alex Russo flicked her wand and magically flashed her luggage bags into the empty substation.

Her older brother Justin sat at one table recounting all of his supplies on his checklist. "Sunscreen, check. Swim suit, check. Hiking boots, check."

Their younger brother was at the counter saying goodbye to his starfish collection. "Sorry, guys," she could hear him say, "but Rivalry Island is going to be too dangerous. You have to stay here and look out for each other. And no ladling while I'm gone."

"I'm ready!" she announced to her family.

"Okay, your flight leaves in an hour," her mom told her. "Everyone let's go. Are we sure we want them to do this, Jerry?" she asked her husband.

"They'll be fine," he answered. "They can take care of themselves."

"You just want the prize, don't you?" she asked with her hand on her hip.

"Yes I do," he admitted. She rolled her eyes and followed her sons from the substation. "What? Oh, tell me you don't want it too?" he asked as he trailed her.

Alex looked over her shoulder. "Okay, we're alone now," she shouted into the echo of the quiet building.

A purple smoke materialized and swirled around, eventually forming into a human. "Great," the girl answered with her Russian accent. "Now I vill tell you vhat it is I require. Do not speak, only listen. I have very little time for your questions. I need you to recover this and I vill make sure that you and your little teammates vin." She handed Alex a photograph of a glowing gem necklace before disappearing in another puff of purple smoke.

"Alex, let's go!" Justin's voice called.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she answered, rolling her bags behind her and tucking the picture into her jeans pocket.

Emma Ross fixed her makeup for the sixth time since she, her brother Luke, her sister Zuri, and her butler Bertram had boarded the private jet. "I can't wait to get there!" she gushed.

"You do realize there will be dirt out there, right?" Luke asked sarcastically.

"Duh. But cute guys always live on deserted islands and deserts and stuff."

Luke looked at Zuri and she gave a confused shrug. "All I know is I'm gonna kick some butt out there!"

"Yeah, you will 'cause you guys have a secret weapon."

"Emma's curling iron?"

"Me!" he answered, clearly annoyed that she couldn't see that _he_ would win the game for them.

"Too bad Ravi's sick," Emma said. "He'd really feel at home here."

"I don't think India is covered in desert," Luke rolled his eyes.

"Luke, we're going to a _tropical_ island," Zuri reminded. "Do I have to do the thinking for both of you?"

"I can't wait to drop you three off," Bertram told them excitedly. "I'm going to have the whole house to myself!"

"Except for Ravi and Jessie," Zuri told him.

"Yeah, too bad Jessie couldn't come," Luke quipped.

"Except for them," Bertram agreed.

"Oh, look!" Emma jumped to a window to point at a palm-tree covered island below. "I think we're here!"

"Okay, guys," Zack Martin coached his twin brother and their friend. "When we land, Maddie is our sister. The game is called Sibling Rivalry."

"You lied to get us on the show?" Cody asked in horror.

"Who cares?" Maddie whispered. "Do you know how long I'd have to work to earn 5 million dollars? I'd have to have nine lifetimes."

"Oh, and your name is Maggie."

"What?" Cody and Maddie asked together.

"Well, there was a glitch with the keyboard in Arwin's office. It was kinda missing a _d_ key."

"So how did you spell my name?" Cody asked.

"I spelled it _Cody_. The key wasn't missing until after I typed your name."

"I don't care," Maddie sighed. "I just want to get out there and earn that prize money."

The plane landed and Maddie and the Martins stepped out onto the sand.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" Zack grinned. "Look at all these hot girls!" He eyed one wealthy-looking blonde who seemed to be about his age.

"Ew," she let out as she hurried past him to catch up with the rest of her team.

"Yeah, that's what I say every time he hits on me," Maddie agreed with her reaction.

"Ga-ross. You hit on your own sister."

"What? No. That Maggie is such a kidder."

She kept running until she'd met back up with a younger boy and girl.

"Way to go, Loser, you'll blow our cover," Cody whispered.

"Relax, we're obviously not the only ones faking. Look at that little girl. She's obviously not related to the blonde."

"Ever hear of adoption, genius?"

"No."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Let's get ourselves set up here before you start messing everything up for us."

"Okay, listen up, everyone. It's time for our first activity: Teambuilding," announced Roy Silvers, the television host of the show. "Each set of siblings will separate into these three circles in the sand." He waited while everyone did as they were told, splitting up so each team had one member in each circle. "Now we're going to drop volleyballs into each circle. Everyone quickly grab the ball closest to you."

Almost before he'd finished explaining, the volley balls dropped from a net above. Maddie quickly did as she was told, along with every other contestant.

"Now take a good look at the kids in your circle. These will be your teammates for the duration of the competition."

"What? I don't want to be stuck with these losers!" a brunette in another circle complained.

"Gee, thanks," Cody glared at her.

"You couldn't wrestle a ball from that little girl," she returned flatly.

"Would everyone from the orange circle step forward?"

All of the contestants walked over to Roy with their orange balls still in their hands.

"Now, one of you has a red star on your volleyball." As expected, the team checked their balls.

"I have it! I have it!" girl about Maddie's age celebrated.

"Teddy, Please join me over here. As for the purple team," they stepped forward as well, "one of you has a blue star on your ball."

Within seconds, a cute boy stepped forward.

"Hottie," Maddie whispered to herself, being the only girl in her circle.

"Justin, won't you join us? And the green team will also have one yellow star on one of their balls."

"That's me," another attractive boy stepped over.

"Okay. Chase, Justin, and Teddy. You three have been randomly selected as our team leaders." He handed each of them a cap matching the color of their stars. "Teddy, with you on the orange team we have Alex, Emma, Chloe, Cody, and Adam. With Justin we have Zack, Luke, Avery, Bree, and PJ. And, last but not least, team green, with Chase, will be Gabe, Maggie, Max, Tyler, and Zuri."


	2. Teambuilding

Teambuilding

The teams were sent to their separate sides of camp to get to know each other and to settle in before the evening's bonfire.

Back at the green cabin, Chase briefed his fellow teammates. "Okay, team green," he announced, "In the following contest, we will be up against Heaven knows what. We'll also be pitted against our own families, which I'm sure none of us have been expecting. Yes, um, Gabe. Do you have a question?"

"Yeah, when is this speech going to be over?"

Tyler and Max snickered.

Chase stood in silence for a few seconds before composing himself. "Actually, as a team, I think we need to figure out a working strategy."

"I have a strategy: win!" Zuri offered.

"Uh, yes. But I think we can come up with something a little more specific. I've taken the liberty of writing out these tests that will evaluate each team member's strengths and weaknesses."

Maddie frowned as Gabe through a pillow and hit Chase right in the head.

"Fine," Chase decided, "I don't care."

He stormed out of the cabin, letting the screen door slam behind him.

"Dibs on this bed!" Alex announced as she entered the orange cabin. She set her bags on a bottom bunk by a window.

"So how are we going to get to know each other?" Emma asked from the bunk above Alex's.

"Does anyone else want to explore?" Adam pulled on an Indiana Jones hat.

"Okay," Teddy nodded, "that's what we can do. There aren't any rules against exploring."

"Hmm, that makes it oddly less appealing," Alex noted.

"I wanna look for unicorns!" Chloe shouted louder than necessary.

"Sweetie, there's no such thing as unicorns," Cody told her.

Emma gasped. "There's not? Then where did Luke get me this unicorn horn necklace?"

Cody looked at its pendant, flipping it around in his hands and scratching at it. "It's a carrot spray painted white," he told her.

Alex laughed. Silly people. Of course unicorns existed.

"Okay," Teddy tried, though she was drowned out by the other kids' chatter. "Okay! We are going to do a little exploring. We'll meet back here in, say, an hour, and we'll talk about what we saw and did. Now, I want everyone to pair up and by the time we come back, I want you to know at least two things about your partner."

"Can I go with you?" Alex asked. "Because I have my two things ready."

"Oh. And what would that be?"

"You remind me of someone, but I don't know who, and you're really too nice to be a team leader."

"Thank you," she smiled before getting the full impact of the words. "I mean—Alex, you're with Adam; Cody's with Chloe, and I'll take Emma."

The groups paired out and split up to explore in the sixty minute allotted time.

"This guy's boring, isn't he?" Zack whispered to Bree, the pretty gal next to him.

"Actually, compared to my brother, this is a vacation."

"Isn't your brother the tall goofy one?"

"Yeah. And my other brother is the smart, nerdy one."

"Ah," he whispered back, glad that Justin couldn't hear the whispering and break up the conversation. "I have one of those. He makes schedules for when I can and can't use the shower."

Bree chuckled, careful not to let the team captain catch her ignoring his speech. "Chase did that to us once. Then Adam's goat ate it."

Zack nodded. "I should have thought of that."

"Zack," Justin called, "you may go first."

"Uh, yeah, okay," Zack stood up and looked around.

"Tell the group what your best talent is," he directed, reading off of a note card.

"Pickin' up chicks," Zack nodded to Bree, who blushed.

"Um, okay. Luke," he looked down at the next card, "what made you want to come out here for the show?"

"Um, 'cause I get to be bad without getting grounded?" he asked as though that were an obvious answer. "That, and Jessie's gonna see how hot I am once she watches me on TV. You know, the camera adds a six pack."

"That's 'the camera adds ten pounds,' Genius," Avery corrected.

"Avery, why don't you tell us what your biggest fear is?"

Avery looked around the room nervously. "I don't really think that's a good question. Why don't we try the next one?"

"I think it's important that we assess one another's—"

Avery grabbed his stack of brightly colored cards. "Here, I'll answer this one."

"No," Justin argued back. "Those were in order!"

"Oops!" Avery purposely flung the cards onto the floor and resisted the urge to immediately pick them up, secretly relieved that Justin did it.

"This will be interesting," Zack grinned.


	3. The Bonfire

The Bonfire

For the bonfire, each contestant had been seated next to two people from different teams, and none of them had been aloud to sit next to siblings. The six separate logs surrounded the stack of flames in a hexagon of light and heat.

The kids slowly gravitated toward the crowd two and three at a time.

Teddy saw Justin and a skinny blonde girl sitting together and fixed her orange tank top and the red cap over her ponytail before joining them. "Hi, I'm Teddy," she introduced to the two.

Maddie looked over at the girl and pretended that she hadn't been upset to have her witty comeback stopped before she could give it. "I'm, uh, Maggie," she returned slowly, glad that she hadn't forgotten the whole name issue.

Teddy shook her hand. "And you're Justin, right? The purple captain?"

Justin stared at her, his mouth moving but no words coming out.

"Nice to meet you too," she laughed.

Alex found herself walking next to a younger girl who was from Justin's team, as her purple and blue outfit gave away. "So, you're on my brother's team," she observed. "How much trouble did he give you so far? Did he use his note cards on you guys, 'cause I hafta say: thanks, I dodged a real bullet there!"

"He's not so bad," she answered. "I'm Avery, by the way."

"I know," Alex snickered. "They introduced you right after they made my brother the team leader. "So, this is the dumb part of the contest where they try to get us to like people on the other teams?"

"I don't know," Avery admitted. It did seem like a logical reason to separate the teams like this.

The two of them approached a log where a boy sat alone. Alex pushed him over. "Here, you can have that side."

"Hey, watch it!" he answered. He looked up at the two girls. "Jo?"

"Actually, it's Alex. I can't believe you people can be so bad at remembering names."

Avery turned her face away instinctively. Gabe? What was he doing here? And how could she have not noticed before? Of course! How could she have been so stupid? Now she remembered: PJ was Gabe's older brother.

Gabe stood to try to get a better look at Avery's face. She stepped away into a patch of shadow. "Wow, sure is hot over here. Maybe I'll stand by this tree."

"Everyone please take your seats," a crewmember politely called. "We will begin in ten minutes."

Avery sat on the opposite side of Alex and looked off into the forest, feigning interest in anything out there.

"We're about to play a game that will help all of you get to know each other better," Roy started.

Gabe shot a glance at Avery.

She held her breath. Was Gabe about to find out?


	4. Bonfire Bonding

Bonfire Bonding

"This is a game called Never Have I Ever. You may have seen or heard of this as a drinking game," the host explained. "However, here on Sibling Rivalry, we're going to try to keep things clean for the kids," he winked.

Each contestant was handed a small velvet bag. The bags were heavy, creating instant curiosity about their contents. Some of the kids immediately opened the bags to find the smooth black rocks inside; others waited, hanging on Roy's every word.

"In each bag are twenty rocks. As we move around the circle, each contestant in turn will make a true statement beginning with 'Never have I ever'. Anyone who has done what the first person hasn't will throw one of their rocks into the fire."

Bree eyed Max, who sat to her right, curiously as he removed one of the rocks from his bag and licked it. She wrinkled her nose but watched as he tilted his head, concentrating on the flavor.

"It's a black rock," he nodded to her certainly.

"Couldn't you tell from looking at it," her eyebrows rose as she observed his responding facial expression.

"If there's one thing I've learned from TV," he informed her, "it's to never trust what you're looking at. I learned that the hard way."

Teddy sat forward on her log, soaking in the instructions as Roy continued.

"If, however, no one else has done what the first person has done, the first person will lose one of their rocks. As an added twist, anyone who throws in a rock after their own question will owe the group an explanation. Why didn't you do the thing that you didn't do? At the end of the game, we'll tally everyone's remaining rocks. The player from each group with the most rocks will score a point for his or her color team. The winning three-part group and the winning team will receive prizes. Okay, is everyone ready?"

Teddy joined the rest of the contestants in a loud "Yes!" She peeked over her right shoulder to see that Justin was still staring at her. His gaze was soft and unthreatening, but it was still a little creepy to have him looking at her for so long. Even if this was his socially awkward way of checking her out, she decided, she had a boyfriend and she'd have to just let him down easy. Later.

"We'll start with Justin," Roy announced, stepping to one side to allow the cameras a clear shot at Justin.

"Oh, okay," Justin began unsurely, a little dazed to be suddenly snapped out of his daydream. "Never have I ever been late to school," he stated without thinking about it. Plenty of the kids had, however, been late to school. He smirked as he received Alex's glare. Maybe not being on a team together would be more fun.

He found his eyes drawn back to Juliet—or Teddy, as he believed she'd told him. She just couldn't be who she said she was. She'd gone missing and now here she was, as beautiful as he'd ever seen her. She was young and fully of life, unlike the last time that they'd been together. He wanted more than anything to hold her close again and share their special nose kisses that Alex had always made fun of. But he had to handle this delicately. If she was going by another name, there was obviously a reason that she didn't want to be found. The island was pretty much monitored by cameras, but he knew that he'd find a way to meet with her secretly and then they could catch up.

"Never have I ever told a boyfriend my true hair color," Maddie admitted. She realized to late that all of the guys were automatically exempt from her question. She facepalmed.

Teddy held her rock at Maggie's non-deed. "Never have I ever cheated on my boyfriend," she paused, thinking about Maggie's mistake and determining not to make the same, "slash girlfriend."

Zack let out a sigh, clearly counting on her to do the same thing Maddie had done. With a shrug, he tossed a rock into the fire.

Teddy shivered, trying to ignore the fact that Justin was once again staring at her.

Emma, PJ, and then Tyler cast their statements. As each went, a few kids tossed rocks into the fire. The game made its way around to Max. He stroked his chin like he sometimes saw people do when they were thinking hard. "Never have I ever…given myself a wedgie." He looked around victoriously. "What? No takers?" he sounded surprised.

"Dude," Alex lamented in her own embarrassment.

"What? In a group this size, I thought someone might have."

"How can someone give themselves a wedgie?" she asked incredulously. "It's impossible."

Max shrugged and lifted a stone from his bag, stroking it gently.

"Wait, no it's not," Cody sighed, hanging his head.

All eyes turned to him.

"What's not?" PJ asked.

"It's not impossible to give yourself a wedgie. I—" He cast a stone into the fire.

"How do you do that?" curiosity forced from Alex's mouth, though she was sure she didn't want to learn the answer.

Silence. Everyone waited for his explanation.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"I'll talk about it!" Zack volunteered.

Bree, feeling bad for poor Cody, quickly stepped in with her statement, cutting Zack's story off before it could begin.

Statement after statement was followed by the shiny black rocks landing in the fire one and two at a time. Some of the revelations were funny, like the fact that Maggie had once started a fire in her apartment; some were embarrassing, including Cody's confession to having once dressed like a girl; others, like Adam's "Never have I ever died", were simply mind boggling. Why, his teammates wanted to know, would he even ask the question. His simple answer was that he'd wanted to make sure there were no zombies or vampires among them. Even losing a rock, he was happy to discover that they were all very much alive.

Justin shot a glance at Teddy when Adam made his vampire remark, but she didn't seem to react at all. That was smart, he thought. Any unusual reaction could clue others off to her true identity.

Avery squirmed nervously as her turn approached. Her sweaty palms patted themselves dry on her purple cotton shorts; her mind ran itself ragged trying to conjure up any kind of statement that wouldn't satisfy Gabe's questions. She knew she'd eventually have to tell him the truth, but she'd put that off as long as she reasonably could.

"Avery," she heard Roy announce as everyone turned to look at her.

"Never have I…" Tyler and Chloe sat through the fire, unable to see her battling facial expressions, which she was thankful for. "Never have I ever been kissed," she blurted out. Kissed? What? Where had that come from?

She watched as most of the other contestants tossed rocks into the fire. She sighed in relief. At least it had given her an edge at this game.

The final two members of Avery's group ended the game by giving their own Never Have I Evers.

Judges came in and counted up every stone carefully, reviewing footage and consorting with each other in their decision-making.

After a few minutes of tense silence on the kids' parts, Roy rejoined them with a small card in his hand. "The winning team," he told them, "will be receiving window fans and feather mattresses for their cabin and they'll be given access to a running water bathroom for the next four days."

"What?!" Emma cried in disgust. "We don't have plumbing here? Ew."

"And the winning team is…the orange team!"

Emma gasped, looked down at her orange and yellow lace top, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes!" Alex hopped to her feet in triumph. "Beat that, Justin!" She high-fived Teddy. Skipping back to her log bench happily she looked over her shoulder gleefully at an annoyed Justin.

"Our winning threesome will also be rewarded. Upon departure from the island, these three lucky kids will each go home with the latest in video game technology!"

Gabe crossed his fingers. His mother had secretly sold his Xbox and all of its games to pay for some of Toby and Charlie's baby expenses. Being in a rough financial spot didn't bother him, but having to lose his games because of it just wasn't right.

"The winning threesome is…Zack, Adam, and Zuri!"

"What? I won twice!" Adam laughed, high-fiving the closest person to him, which happened to be Zack.

"That you did, Adam," Roy announced. "And because of that, you will be receiving immunity in our next vote-off."


	5. Avery's Secret

Avery's Secret

Avery's heart beat as she stood and tried to get back to her teammates quickly. She instinctively swung around with a ready fist when someone grabbed her forcefully by her arm.

"I knew it!" Gabe quietly exclaimed so that no extra attention would be drawn that way. He discreetly slipped a piece of crumpled paper into her fist.

She sighed. "Gabe, I still have your number."

"Just read it. No! Not now." She gave him an odd look but he explained. "You can't let anyone see."

As she was nearing her cabin, Avery took a quick glance at the paper slip in her hand. She smiled despite the surprise and slight confusion.

"What's that?" Zack immediately asked.

"What's what?" She crunched it back into her fist. He made a grab for her arm, but she leapt six inches backward. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I have crazy fighting reflexes."

Luke meowed. "Cat fight!"

"What's going on?" Bree asked as she, PJ, and Justin joined the group.

Avery, without waiting for anyone else to say anything, darted for the nearby cabin. If she could get rid of this note before anyone else could see it, she'd be in the clear.

Bree must have taken a shortcut because she was waiting at the cabin door when Avery came running up. She tried to change directions, but Bree grabbed her.

"I got her!" She called to the rest of the purple team.

Justin stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Avery, but as team captain I'm going to have to confiscate that."

"You can't do that!" Avery argued angrily.

"Is that what Gabe gave you?" PJ asked.

"What? She's consorting with the other teams!" Zack cried, jumping to grab her arms.

Avery bent into a boxer pose. Her eyes darted from teammate to teammate as she spun in a circle to see all of them surrounding her.

"Avery, we need to see that paper," Justin requested firmly.

Avery knew that she should give it to him, and she was trying so hard to be a rule follower, but she couldn't let this secret get out. This was almost as her secret about Stan, her talking dog.

She impulsively shoved the paper into her mouth and chewed on it, herself appalled by what she'd done.

"Spit it out!" demanded Justin.

"Make me!" she challenged.

"I'll make her!" Zack rolled up his sleeves. "This might hurt."

PJ put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Avery, what was on that note?"

Avery looked around at her teammates. These were her companions for the rest of her time here. They were supposed to be in unity, helping each other, and that required trust. She faltered. "I can't say."

"I didn't think so," Luke snarled. "But let me just say this. I think I speak for the whole team when I say if we catch you hanging around with the other teams, we will literally tear you limb from limb and cover up your death as a boating accident!"

The rest of the team stared at him in horror.

"I get competitive," he shrugged.

Avery stood with her head down as her team walked past her and into the cabin, murmuring to each other about what backstabbing schemes she may have up her sleeve.

Bree looked out the window. "Justin, she's still out on the step."

"So?"

Bree crossed her arms. "So our teammate is standing outside in the rain. I'm gonna go get her."

"Bree, she's being shunned."

She couldn't believe how unempathetic he was. "She's soaking wet, sitting outside in the woods in the middle of the night."

Justin stared at her harshly before giving in with a wave in the door's direction.

Bree grabbed one of her towels and put it around Avery's shoulders as she stepped outside.

Avery sniffed and pulled the towel around her gratefully. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you guys about the note. It's just—private."

"Between us girls," Bree whispered, "I think he likes you!" She hushed herself as she realized how loud the second half of the sentence had been. Thankfully, nobody in the cabin seemed to have noticed.

"Can you keep a secret?" Avery asked suddenly.

"Sure," Bree agreed, thinking of her own secret.

"Gabe and I know each other. Well, knew each other. See, when I lived back in Denver we went to school together and we kind of had a thing. But then I moved and I decided to start over and be the good, smart, artistic girl that my mom had always wanted me to be. I mean, she used to send me to these stupid cotillions and manners lessons so I could be all girly and I kind of hated them, but I think I secretly like them. So when I moved Ohio, it was a perfect chance for me to start over and be someone else, you know? But being here with Gabe again kind of makes me feel like I used to."

"Young love! It's so cute!" Bree excitedly celebrated.

"But you tell no one about this conversation," Avery was quick to charge.

"I promise," Bree told her. "Now we should probably get out of this rain."

** What do you think of Avery's secret? Will her relationship with Gabe blossom? Will Leo ever be discovered? Will Justin ever get to talk to Teddy? Will Bree and Zack become an item? What problems could arise at a meeting of the team captains? What could happen if the teams suddenly switched members? Comment or message and let me know what you think**


	6. Early Hours

Early Hours

Leo woke up on the hard wooden floor of a cramped closet. He stretched knocking over a pile of something noisy. He froze. Listening to the breathing and quiet sleep-murmurs of the kids in the main room of the cabin, he decided that he was okay and that it was safe to come out.

He crept from the closet and looked around the room. He spotted Adam on a top bunk, but where were Chase and Bree?

The girl by the window stirred in her sleep. It was probably better if he got out of here before he was caught, he thought.

He slipped out of the building and ducked into the bushes outside of the window until he deemed it safe to leave.

A silent figure swept past him like a ghost. Before he could restrain his curiosity, he found himself following the willowy silhouette deeper into the woods.

Chase heard footsteps walking away from the cabin. He sat up in bed and ran one hand through his messy hair. Slipping out of bed, he peered through the window. "Night vision," he softly commanded.

Through his bionic eyes, he could see Gabe sneaking out into the forest. That was suspicious. He'd better take a look.

"Oh, good," Gabe whispered. "I didn't think you'd show."

"Neither did I," she answered awkwardly.

"Okay, let's get one thing straight," he immediately jumped into the questions he'd had since he first saw her. "What's your real name?"

"Jo. Avery." She sighed. "Avery Josephine Keener. James," she added as an afterthought. "I didn't lie to you Gabe. I just guess I lied to myself a little after we moved. I decided I wanted to be a lawyer or in politics or something. And to do that, I assumed I needed to change everything around. I had to be the good girl who got great grades. I was going to a new city across the country, so I figured that then was the best time to make a whole new life for myself."

Gabe nodded and sat on a rock next to hers. "So that's why you never returned my calls?" he asked with one eyebrow up.

"Calls? You called once. And then never again."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry."

Everything was quiet for a few seconds other than the soft sounds of the forest. A twig snapped here, a chorus of crickets and frogs went off there, the wind blew through the treetops.

"I just wish," Avery began again, "that we'd met each other under different circumstances. When my team saw you give me that note, they were just about ready to murder me. We're supposed to be enemies, Gabe."

"We were once," he smirked.

"Zack," Bree whispered softly, "are you awake?"

Zack rolled over and opened one eye. "I am now," he groaned sleepily.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized. "I just can't sleep. I thought someone might want to take a little walk with me."

He sat up so quickly that he fell off his bunk, making a loud crash. "Well why didn't you say so?" he whispered back, completely unfazed by the fall.

The two of them walked slowly by the illuminated lake. "So where are you from?" she asked.

"Boston. My mom works at the Tipton Hotel, so me and Cody live there."

"And your sister?"

He stopped walking. "Who? Oh Maddie! She lives there too, of course."

"I thought her name was Maggie," Bree questioned.

"That's what I said," he shifted uncomfortably, quickly changing the subject, "New question: What do your parents do?"

"Oh, well, Tasha works for a TV station as their new news lady."

"Wait, who's Tasha?"

She kicked a rock into the water as she passed and watched it ripple in the moonlight. "She's my stepmom. Leo's mother. Who is my stepbrother, thus his mom is my stepmom." They both laughed. "And Dad owns a billion-dollar company," she told him. "He's kind of a crazy inventor sometimes. But some of his projects are pretty cool—the ones that work anyway."

In the green glow of his night vision, Chase could see Gabe and Avery sitting in the clearing together. He argued with himself for a while before he decided that eavesdropping would be in the team's best interest.

"I really like you," Avery whispered. "I just wish that we didn't have to be on opposite teams." She smirked. "You know I'm gonna hafta kick your butt now."

Gave laughed. "No way. You're going down." They laughed together.

Motion from the other side of the clearing caught Chase's attention. Someone small was crouching behind a bush. Was that—it couldn't be—Leo?

Alex grinned on her way back to the cabin. Following that strange kid had been so worth it: blackmail was in order for Gabe _and_ Avery. Maybe even the short kid, too. She slipped back in through the window, skillfully as a cat burglar. This was too good! A Romeo and Juliet story right here on the island!

Juliet…What was it that she needed to remember about Juliet? Something was popping up in the back of her mind, but she couldn't make anything of it. She shrugged it off.

Gabe and Avery falling for each other. This was too perfect! Neither of them was on her team. That meant that exposing them could cause major division on the green and the purple teams.

How much would they be willing to do to cover this dirty little secret up?

** Okay, so what did everybody think? What could happen to bring Avery and Gabe closer together? Or drive them further apart? What will Chase and Alex do with their newfound knowledge? Will Chase bring everyone up to speed, or will Alex blackmail them both? And what about Zack and Bree? What do you think about their relaitonship? Please comment!**


	7. In The Morning

Justin

Justin made his way to the mess hall where the breakfast buffet was being served. He hadn't slept well. It had been hot in their cabin, and since they'd lost the last challenge, there had been no fans in the room. And there was no jungle breeze. It had been a hot, sticky night.

He piled up some vegetables on his plate and looked around the room. There were five wooden tables, each big enough to seat only four people. They were clever; they were trying to split the teams up already.

He scanned some of the tables as he walked over. Bree and Zack were sitting with Avery and Luke. At least they'd kept it in the team, but now he'd be forced to sit with members of another…

"Morning," Teddy greeted as she passed him with a full plate of fruit, eggs, and breakfast sausage.

"Good morning," he automatically returned, following her and sitting at her table.

Teddy

"Justin, right?" Teddy asked.

She tried to keep a straight face while he stared at her silently then suddenly exclaimed a little too loudly, "Yes! Yes, Justin!" He shook his head. "Yes, I'm Justin. You're…"

"Teddy."

"Teddy. Right."

Teddy picked up a piece of melon on her plastic fork and popped it into her mouth, chewing and swallowing before continuing. "So who are your siblings here?"

"Alex and Max. Oh, speak of the devil," he said mostly to himself as Alex and a few other kids walked in.

Teddy laughed. "You know, I always thought that was a strange expression. Where did that even come from?"

"Oh, trust me," he assured her, "in Alex's case, it makes sense."

She laughed again. Oh boy, if his sister was anything like Gabe, though she didn't seem quite so bad yet, then she was in for a real troublemaker.

Justin was quiet for a few seconds, thinking hard about something that must have been pretty important. He seemed suddenly ready to blurt something out when Maggie showed up to their table.

"Hey, Justin, Terry," she smiled.

"It's, uh, Teddy."

"Oh, sorry," she falsely apologized. "So, Justin, do you know what the upcoming activities will be?"

"No, I don't. We're not even on the same team."

"You never know," she shrugged, "this game is crazy. We could end up in pairs instead of teams. Well, I have a tip with you. I heard they're gonna have us do trust walks and stuff."

"Hey, Teddy, come sit with your own team!" Alex called.

"The dark side beckons," Justin told her with a mockingly evil expression.

Teddy smiled. "Oh, I'm sure it's not all that bad."

"Not yet. But she aspires to it."

Teddy took her tray and left the two alone, though they were immediately joined by Gabe and the little black girl whose name she couldn't remember. She sat next between Alex and Emma and across from the twin who, based on his orange shirt, was identified as being Cody, the member on her team.

Alex must have seen her staring back at the other table. "My brother's pretty lame, huh? Thought I'd step in and save you from his nerdiness."

"Yeah, I guess he's a little awkward," she shrugged in response.

Chase

With his superhearing focused on Avery, looking for any other signs that she and Gabe may be plotting against their teams, Chase virtually ignored the brain-numbing conversation Max and Tyler were having beside him.

Should he tell anyone about this? Maybe the other team had send Avery to get information out of Gabe? Besides that, he had another problem: Leo. He had to get his siblings and tell them that Leo was here on the island. Maybe they could find a way to sneak him off so they wouldn't be disqualified.

And where was Leo now? Chase had heard someone else approaching in the woods and hid to avoid them, losing his stepbrother in the process. That little sneak could be anywhere on the island. He could have been caught already!

"Right, Chase?"

"What?" he looked up at Max. "Yeah, sure."

"See I told you," he absently heard Max say as he continued to monitor the purple team's conversation.

They weren't saying anything so revealing, but then again, Bree knew about his superhearing and would make sure not to incriminate her own team here where he could hear them.

He sighed and stood, dumping his uneaten food in one of the waste bins and heading outside. There was still some time before the next competition. Maybe he could find Leo on his own.

Bree

As the groups dispersed after the morning meal, Bree hooked arms with Avery and pulled her off in another direction.

"What?" Avery whispered.

"Look, there he is. Alone. You should go talk to him."

"I—I don't know. What if they see me and it starts all over again?"

"Don't worry," she tried to comfort the other girl. "Who's gonna say anything? Our team is all either inside or heading back to the cabin." She gave Avery a small shove.

Avery hesitated, started, and turned back.

"Go."

"I know, I know," she whispered hurriedly. "I just wanted to say first, thanks." With that she dashed up to him and whisked him away from the crowd so quickly that he almost lost his footing.

"Too cute!" Bree squeaked to herself as soon as they'd disappeared from view.

Luke

"Luke, get out of that tree!" Emma demanded. "You still represent our family!"

"Shh!" he hissed out her.

"Don't shush me!"

"Emma, quiet! There's a kid sleeping in the bushes. I'm gonna get a closer look."

"Who is it?" she asked, her curiosity now piqued.

"I don't know. He left his ID in his other pants," he answered sarcastically. "I've never seen him before; he's not one of the contestants," he told her as he shimmied further out on the longest branch.

"Careful!" she shouted too late.

Luke screamed as he plummeted from the tree and into the shrubbery.

The other kid sat up, stared at Luke, and let out a scream of his own.

Luke screamed back.

The boy echoed him.

"Who are you?" they asked at the same time.

"We're contestants on the show," Emma informed. "Okay, now tell us who you are."

"Yeah," Luke agreed with his sister, "and why you're sleeping in the bushes." He gasped. "Are you a jungle native?"

"Yes." The boy answered immediately, without hesitation. "I am indeed a jungle native. My name is Leo. I'm the king of the jungle." He stuck his chin up proudly.

"Then why don't you have some kind of jungle castle?" Emma asked.

"Um, because, because, I, my castle is being fumigated." His eyes shifted back and forth. "Yeah..."

"Oh, that's too bad, Man," Luke shrugged. "Maybe you can stay with the crew."

"No!"

Both siblings gave him a look of shock at his adamant refusal.

"Well, uh, they raided the island and set up their...stuff here. They don't know that my tribe is here. We'll be much safer if no one says anything."

Luke and Emma exchanged a glance but nodded. "Okay, we can keep a secret," Luke told him.

Alex

Alex was slipping off into the woods when she spotted Gabe and Avery again and had a sudden brainstorm. There was a contest starting soon and someone would be sent home. She couldn't let that happen to herself.

"Hi guys," she greeted walking over to the secret couple.

"Hi," Avery said suspiciously.

"What do you want?" Gabe asked.

Straight to the point. Okay, that worked for her. She had places to be and people to see anyway. "I want you two to sabotage your teams in the next contest."

"And why would we do that?" Avery demanded.

"Because I know your secret," she smiled at them smugly.

"So we're talking," Gabe shrugged. "That doesn't mean anything. You're talking to us too."

"Not that secret," she rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess that is part of it. I know all about Avery, I mean, Jo."

Avery glared at her.

"So unless you want me to expose your past to everyone on both of your teams, I want you to make sure your teams don't win the next contest."

"Okay, fine," Gabe squinted. "We'll throw the contest."

**Okay, so here's the new chapter. I hope that you all enjoyed that. I know it wasn't very long, but I'm working on more. **

**Also, would anybody be interested in reading a Hunger Games fic set in an alternate sci-fi/fantasy universe? If I get enough people who like the idea I just may start one.**


End file.
